Ever find yourself on a trip and just realized you’ve left your sunscreen at home? What about those times when you’ve sat at your desk, got sucked into answering emails, and forgot a report that was due that afternoon? Want to avoid these situations? Use a checklist! It’s amazing how writing things down can help you get better organized and be more efficient–ensuring that you leave no task undone, no chore unfinished and no sunscreen at home.

Using a primary checklist as the base can be helpful, but teams then need to customize it to fit their exact workflow. Creating your own checklist also means you can use it in your work and refine it based on how it fares.